Dashan

Mark Henry Rowswell, CM (born May 23, 1965), known by his Chinese stage name Dashan (Chinese: 大山; pinyin: Dàshān; lit. 'Big Mountain'), is a Canadian performer and television personality who gained prominence in China. He became known in the late 1980s through regular appearances on China Central Television (CCTV), particularly in the traditional comedic art form xiangsheng. Although less publicly visible in Canada, he developed a significant presence in Chinese media as a non-Chinese national working in domestic programming. Since 2012, he has shifted his focus toward solo performances in live venues and has contributed to the development of the stand-up comedy scene in China.

Rowswell was born in 1965 in Ottawa, Ontario, and attended Nepean High School. He started learning Chinese in 1979 from a refugee that he worked alongside in a camera store on Bank Street. After learning a few words, Rowswell bought books and cassettes teaching the language.

Rowswell enrolled at the University of Toronto, initially to study philosophy, because his parents preferred that he study abroad in China if he wanted to learn Chinese. However, Rowswell switched to formally studying Chinese early on as an undergraduate. His original Chinese name, as given by his Canadian Chinese-language teacher, was Lu Shiwei (Chinese: 路士玮) based on his surname Rowswell. Upon graduation from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Chinese studies in 1988, Rowswell was easily able to secure an exchange position with a full scholarship at Peking University to continue his Chinese studies.